Today, we've learned that General Motors has priced the vehicle at "under $25,000" when tax credits are taken into account. In other words, we're expecting that the vehicle will actually priced at $32,495 before the $7,500 federal tax credit is applied.

For comparison, the Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus Electric are priced at $35,200 and $39,995 respectively before the $7,500 federal tax credit kicks in. Depending on where you live, the Spark EV might also quality for state tax credits/rebates that would knock the price down even further.

According to GM, the Spark EV features a 560-pound lithium-ion battery pack that is warrantied for 8-years/100,000 miles. This should be enough to give peace of mind to customers who plan on keeping the vehicle for more than the typical 5-year loan period.

The Spark EV will also be the first vehicle that features SAE Combo DC Fast Charging capabilities. This allows the Spark EV to reach 80 percent of its charge within 20 minutes. Getting recharging times down to reasonable levels is a critical in the adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S. and this is a much needed step in that direction.

“The Spark EV battery has undergone more than 200,000 hours of testing in our global battery systems labs,” said Pamela Fletcher, Chevrolet executive chief engineer of electrified vehicles. “It is extremely durable and has undergone the same abuse tolerance testing as the Volt battery.”

GM still hasn't provided us details on how far the Spark EV will travel on a charge, but we expect to learn more details closer to its Summer 2013 launch.

Another point: The taxes on the wealthy Democrats are so furious about? Could hike them to 100% and, assuming they didn't flee the country, it wouldn't get close to closing our deficit.

I also disagree it's meant as research, and that it needs to be done. By a thousand mile stretch the #1 issue is battery cost and capacity. These people know how to build vehicles with spinning wheels. It's an utter waste of time until the battery tech is there to make it desirable. No, these are nothing more than false flags or tributes they're forced to lay at the feet of their political masters in DC, lest they get called in front of Congress yet again and grilled by people who, by and large, couldn't successfully operate a lemonade stand.

And don't try to make the argument battery R&D wouldn't happen otherwise. Batteries of exactly the same underlying technology is central to the modern existence of the Western consumer life. EV production could fall to zero, and some subsidized battery manufacturers that cater 100% to automakers would disappear, but R&D to advance batteries, and the phones, laptops, tablets, hearing aids, marine applications and everything else that they power would advance on without hardly a skipped beat.

quote: And don't try to make the argument battery R&D wouldn't happen otherwise. Batteries of exactly the same underlying technology is central to the modern existence of the Western consumer life. EV production could fall to zero, and some subsidized battery manufacturers that cater 100% to automakers would disappear, but R&D to advance batteries, and the phones, laptops, tablets, hearing aids, marine applications and everything else that they power would advance on without hardly a skipped beat.

Ringold, if you had any grasp about the economics of these markets you wouldn't make such an ignorant statement.

Phones and laptops have completely different requirements. A 2000 cycle battery life on a phone or laptop versus one with 1000 cycles is completely useless in that market, because the latter will outlive the warranty anyway. In a car with battery recycling, cost per mile is almost proportional to cycle count. Cost reduction is also very low on priorities compared to energy density. 50% more density will easily fetch 5x as much per kWh, because going from $4 to $20 in a $500 phone is nothing compared when you get glowing reviews for battery life. That's where research is focused. For a car, energy density is an issue that can be worked around, and cost is the #1 issue. Finally there's the cooling and safety systems for car batteries, the cost of which can vary drastically with battery design, and are negligible for laptop/phone systems due to the vastly lower scale.

So you're dead wrong. Car battery research would not progress at anywhere near the same rate without critical EV sales volume.

It's an easy societal win already. Look at the CMax Energi vs the similarly equipped CMax SEL. The PHEV is only $4750 more than the HEV before credits, but will save way more than that in gas over the lifetime of the vehicle. Consumers don't take that kind of risk, though. Individually, they also don't benefit more than a few pennies from an EV's impact on the trade deficit, while society and the gov't does.

And yes, the fact that these subsidies are so small in the grand scheme of things DOES matter. They're a kickstart, and will fade out just like the regular hybrid credits did.